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The Orphan of Ellis Island (A Time Travel Adventure Story)

I just happened upon this book in the library as I was straightening up and it immediately caught my eye for a number of reasons-

1. It had a brown, old-fashioned, steampunk style cover

2. A drawing of a cute young boy who looks very lost (I'm a sucker for people thrust out of their element.)

3. Time Travel

4. Time Travel

5. Ellis Island=New York City=My home

6. Did I mention Time Travel?

When I thumbed through it I was pleasantly surprised to see the text printed in brown! Lovely! It's a nice switch from the usual black on white and retains the turn of the century feel to it. I'm hooked!

The Orphan of Ellis Island: A Time-Travel Adventure:

Dominic Cantori is an orphan. Ashamed of his situation, Dominic avoids making friends for fear of exposing his terrible secret. One day on a class trip to Ellis Island, a tour guide asks everyone about their families. Immediately, Dominic flees from the class and hides in a closet, where he falls asleep for hours. When he wakes up, the museum is deserted. Lonely and afraid, he picks up one display telephone after another, listening to the recorded voices of immigrants who describe their lives in faraway countries and their journeys to Ellis Island. To Dominic's surprise, the voice of an old Italian immigrant speaks directly to him! And before he knows it, he's transported back in time: to Italy in 1908. There, he unlocks the door to his past, and discovers just... what it feels like to be loved by his own family.

I look forward to delving into this one. I'm not ashamed to say that I often read well-written books geared toward juveniles and young adults. I love Voyagers, don't I? :) This one in particular is for 4th-7th graders. Amazon has a preview of the book and you can read inside it. Check it out when you can, you may find it an interesting read.

Comments

Nothing to be ashamed of there; I'm going on 57 and I still enjoy a well-written children's book myself. I've been a fan of the Harry Potter series since the first book came out, and I also enjoy Eoin Colfer's (that first name's pronounced like "Owen") Artemis Fowl series, both written kids. I've lost count of the number of times I've read "A Wrinkle in Time," and then there's my "Goosebumps" collection... ;D

What a great idea !I like the title of the book and the cover looks great. I wish there were books like that when I was a kid. I have always loved the idea of time travel! I agree with paragontwin nothing to be ashamed of. I am a fan of Harry Potter and I still enjoy Nancy Drew! EmilyW

Thanks! You're right there is nothing shameful about it, my two favorite books written are 'The Giver' and 'The true confessions of Charlotte Doyle.' The heroes in that are 12 and 13! lol. I remember by the time Goosebumps came out, I felt too mature for it, because they didn't have it when I was at the 'appropriate' age so I turned to R.L Stine's 'Fear Street.' which looking back now was inappropriate to my age, lol. I was already reading books about the 'big kids' and high schoolers by the time I was 10. I used to get a kick out of the goosebumps tv show way back when, because my sisters loved it. Ahh, Nancy Drew! I love her too. I actually like the ones from the original sixties series and the eighties/early nineties, I think they were better written, more sophisticated, because she was already 18 and able to be on her own.

Emily, take a closer look at my name. There's no "a" between the "R" and the "G." I have to be fussy about that, because it's part of my e-mail address, and when people insist on putting that "a" in there, e-mail doesn't reach me. ;D

Nancy Drew was okay, but I much preferred the Hardy Boys. I had a first edition of "The House on the Cliff," written in the 1920s! As for Nancy - in the 1960s, she may have been in college, but she was still a minor, because you didn't reach your majority until you were 21 back then. They didn't lower it to 18 until the mid 1970s, mostly at the behest of the youngest of the returning Viet Nam veterans (the war ended in '74), who had been drafted at 18 and served their country in combat, but were still legally minors because they weren't yet 21. It was the same reasoning that got the voting age lowered from 21 to 18 in 1972.

That's an interesting fact about the age. No wonder in the song 'Eve of Destruction' the singer says, 'Old enough to kill, but not for votin..' he was referring to the 18-21 gap.

I never really read the Hardy Boys, unless it was a team up with Nancy. They had some good ones in the 80's/90's. I started watching the show a while back, it was cute. I think it would be cool to reboot it, then they can throw in Nancy Drew like they did in the 70's.Darn, I couldn't start reading this book because I realized I left it at the library. Oh well, Monday I'll get it.